Drawing as meaning-making in a child’s life during transition

This study examines how drawing functioned as a sustained practice of meaning-making in the life of an elementary-aged child during relocation. Focusing on Lumi, an 11-year-old who moved from South Korea to the United States with the researcher during a sabbatical year, the study explores how drawing supported her negotiation of change, continuity and lived experience in an unfamiliar environment. Using narrative inquiry with arts-based attention, the study analyses approximately 200 drawings alongside conversations, field notes and a reflexive journal collected over one year. The findings show that drawing became a relational and evolving practice through which Lumi entered social spaces, organized unfamiliar experiences, reworked visual references and constructed personal narratives. The study also illuminates how close engagement with children’s drawing can reshape adult assumptions about learning, creativity and participation in childhood.